Apple will likely launch a new high-definition television set in March 2012 with three screen sizes and price points, one Wall Street analyst claims.

Trip Chowdhry with Global Equities Research issued a note to investors on Sunday in which he shared his "converged view" on an anticipated Apple HDTV, with information based on details culled from a number of developer events he attended.

Chowdhry said the product that is most similar to Apple's rumored HDTV is the Bose VideoWave, a 46-inch LCD HDTV with an integrated surround-sound speaker system. The VideoWave aims to simplify HDTVs by reducing clutter, and to improve picture and sound quality.

The Bose VideoWave gives the greatest sense of where Apple's alleged HDTV may be heading, Chowdhry claimed. He said his "converged view" of data from various developers is "probably" 75 percent accurate, and that it will "probably" be launched in March of 2012, with developer sessions at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Apple's rumored HDTV is apparently being benchmarked against the VideoWave because it has reduced its number of cables to just three. Chowdhry believes that any television set from Apple would have just one cable.

The VideoWave also sports a thickness of six inches, packing in 16 speakers. Chowdhry said that Apple's purported HDTV will be a third as thick and will also have 16 speakers.

"These 16 built-in speakers gives a complete surround sound experience, without the need for any external speakers," he said.

Bose's HDTV product comes in just one screen size and price point: 46 inches for $5,200. Chowdhry said that an HDTV from Apple will have three screen sizes and three price points.

"The DSP chip in Apple HDTV is a brand new chip based on Apple's acquisition of PA Semi," he added. "As of now, this new chip is not in mass production."

Claims of a forthcoming Apple-branded Internet-connected HDTV are not new, and one report from April even suggested that Apple could release its own television set this year. One analysis issued earlier this month found that Apple's market capitalization could grow by $100 billion if it were to enter the HDTV market.

I don't know about these price points. The HDTV market has quickly raced to the bottom, with expensive models and larger screens being more niche products. Plus, the larger the screen, the more quality is an issue. Apple would have to embrace 1080p content. They're all about higher quality screens on Mac and iOS devices, but on AppleTV, they're still stuck in the 720p era.

I'd love to see what Apple has in mind for future TVs, but I'm skeptical.

What a bunch of crap... Like Apple is going to jump right in the middle of HDTVs and offer THREE models all at the same time. Apple's offerings in their computer and phone divisions are limited to 1 or 2, with slight customization. They are not going to suddenly offer 3 models in a market they have never appeared in before.

This rumor of Apple entering the TV arena has been kicked around for years. It might one day become a reality, but for now it is just a means for some know-nothing analyst to make a name for himself.

Rumor followed by skeptical, sarcastic responses. See above. This reminds me of something... wait a minute... wait a minute... There was this rumor in 2006 about an "i" thing that everybody was laughing at Apple about. Something about a mature, commoditized, cutthroat market that would eat Apple alive? Well, they're not laughing any more are they. And why did Apple remove "Computer" from its corporate name? Let me think about that one again.

I can see most people are being skeptical however, this might very well be the only way Apple can mass market their Apple TV and sell/rent movies through iTunes.

Apple is selling lots of Apple TVs, but TV manufacturers are already pre-installing NetFlix and Google TVs into their products making the Apple TV a harder sell even-though ATV has higher quality interface and content.

So if Apple sticks an ATV into say an LG, and calls it Apple TV 52" they'll make money off of iTunes, the TV, and ATV. Moreover, SJ will be able to "stick it" to Google.

Premium HDTVs don't sell, I know, I have a Pioneer KURO which cost a small fortune and is still far and away the best HDTV ever made... but few people bought them.

Could Apple really hope to compete with the likes of Samsung and Panasonic? The only unique selling point would be iTunes store stuff, which isn't exactly enough to convince people to buy the Apple TV. Plus Samsung and the like already offer fully connected TVs with access to several streaming services, few of which, one would imagine, Apple would support.

This rumor makes no sense to me at all. Why would Apple want to involve itself in an industry that is in a perpetual race to the bottom with little no profit margin. I fail to see how this would benefit the Apple ecosystem. It is only slightly more relevant than an "iBlender."

I would love a TV from apple. Not for 5 grand of course, but under a thousand would be nice. It would have apple TV built in, and an ability to record live TV. Of course Netflix, Hulu etc as well. This type of TV would be insane,

Of course Google has already tried this and fialed like a miserable failure. However I would not buy an HDTV for 1,000 if the only thing it does is replicate a $99 device's functionality on a TV I can buy for $500. That product would be DOA.

If Apple used it's fabled supply chain manipulation, it could come up with a reasonably priced HDTV, however, in the cutthroat industry, the profit margins are too slim for Apple.

The only reason I even look at these rumors is that Jobs is reported to hate boxes connecting to TV's, but any TV connected to cable TV will be cluttered with a zillion wires and the cable industry will never change, they make too much money with their old crap & DRM.

Now a Nano sized BT enabled watch that acted as a second display for my phone.....

This rumor makes no sense to me at all. Why would Apple want to involve itself in an industry that is in a perpetual race to the bottom with little no profit margin. I fail to see how this would benefit the Apple ecosystem. It is only slightly more relevant than an "iBlender."

Well, before Apple did the comeback, computers was all about a race to the bottom. So was mobile phones. So that is not what bothers me. I think those guys in Cupertino may want to kick ass in other such industries.

But why TV?

What's the rationale? I may be almost blind, but please - why?

To serve a extrodernary living room experience there is so much more than the screen and what's on it. You need great speakers and great receiver/amplifier and all of those are well served from low price to the most expensive already.

Indeed, usability can be improved. A lot. And Apple can do that. But I think improving ATV is a better choice. Together with home server stuff. And they can also work hard on spreading all types of contents to all countries where iTunes exist. Not to mention actually selling the ATV2 outside US. Then people can stick it to a TV (or many TVs) and home cinemas of their own choice and fashion back home. Or in the office.

My 100 percent sure thinking and I do not need to invent sources to tell it. Or pretend I got it from somewhere else.

Let me guess, the TV will only work with iTunes and Netflix. You can only run it off the internet which will cause the cable companies to raise their prices to $120 a month. Basically we'll be paying double for the same shitty content we could get for free with a HD antenna.

Rumor followed by skeptical, sarcastic responses. See above. This reminds me of something... wait a minute... wait a minute... There was this rumor in 2006 about an "i" thing that everybody was laughing at Apple about. Something about a mature, commoditized, cutthroat market that would eat Apple alive? Well, they're not laughing any more are they. And why did Apple remove "Computer" from its corporate name? Let me think about that one again.

You're exactly right.

People will point and laugh (as with most of the posts here) for the next few months as rumors intensify.

But Apple creating a TV that blows tbe current products out of the water is pretty much a given. I have no doubt that we'll have the last laugh!

They will offer a new IPTV service from Apple. This is what their new data and upcoming data farms are really for.

Apple will make it so easy to watch tv now and in the future.

Buy, unbox, plug into outlet, plug into ethernet and turn on. No more set top boxes!

When you turn on tv, Apple will offer you a new tv experience you will be able to subscribe too. All your favorite channels, on demand movies, live sports and great apps that you can select on a sidebar or overlay live picture.

They will offer a new IPTV service from Apple. This is what their new data and upcoming data farms are really for.

Apple will make it so easy to watch tv now and in the future.

Buy, unbox, plug into outlet, plug into ethernet and turn on. No more set top boxes!

When you turn on tv, Apple will offer you a new tv experience you will be able to subscribe too. All your favorite channels, on demand movies, live sports and great apps that you can select on a sidebar or overlay live picture.

It will be a game changer in the tv industry.

THIS I buy. And this I WOULD buy as an actual product.

But as the new OS for the Apple TV, a standalone device, tiny, with an A5 chip and no internal storage save for 16GB of NAND for cache. Not as a television.

I'd much rather see the current Apple TV turn into a full set top box with the blessings from the cable companies. There are only a handful of providers and Apple could easily make it attractive to them by offering iAds in a slick new GUI with intuitive menus, searching, advanced remote and DVR controls. Maybe even voice actuated. Simply being able to easily navigate the menus would probably increase the cable company's pay per view sales by a 1000%.

Apple currently supports its iOS devices for about two years before dropping them from getting iOS updates. An HDTV screen can last for a whole lot longer than that. I'll be damned if I'd pay thousands for a TV that needs to be replaced so soon when I can just buy a dumb screen that will last for many years and then connect a $100 box to that that I can replace in a couple years.

The dumb box also makes it easy to split the signal and send it to two TVs--one in the kitchen and one in the living room. Very useful when cooking and moving back and forth between rooms.

So what if the TV is also an iMac. And has voice control. If Apple WAS to bring something out, it would have to be radically different and they seem to be pretty good at finding new markets. Just speculating here...

The first commandment of ALL religions is to provide a comfortable living for the priesthood.

This rumor makes no sense to me at all. Why would Apple want to involve itself in an industry that is in a perpetual race to the bottom with little no profit margin. I fail to see how this would benefit the Apple ecosystem. It is only slightly more relevant than an "iBlender."

Maybe because they're making a lot of money in that industry that, for all other players, is in a perpetual race to the bottom with little or no profit margin? You know, the personal computer industry? :-)

Appletv was always a "hobby" or experiment, cause Steve does not like set top boxes. The new apple tv will have the current appletv box inside. no need to try to explain to customers what it is, how to use it, how to switch from their cable box to appletv. you may laugh, but many people just don't "get" the apple tv box.

Apple will push the envelope with their new iptv HDTV's. they will also have the ability to access their cable channels if their cable company will cater to them and let them have no box. Apple is going to use this new tv to try to push set top boxes out the door

They will offer a new IPTV service from Apple. This is what their new data and upcoming data farms are really for.

Apple will make it so easy to watch tv now and in the future.

Buy, unbox, plug into outlet, plug into ethernet and turn on. No more set top boxes!

When you turn on tv, Apple will offer you a new tv experience you will be able to subscribe too. All your favorite channels, on demand movies, live sports and great apps that you can select on a sidebar or overlay live picture.

It will be a game changer in the tv industry.

Yes it will, until the ISPs start taxing away any profit that Apple generates. There is no profit to be made in media and data streaming if you don't have your own network. Transmission is where the choke point is, that's the bridge at which every troll sets up his toll booth. Either the feds will have to regulate that massively or Apple takes some of its 70+ billions and uses that to set up its own exclusive ISP.